Hair dryer bonnet comprising an inflatable annular air cushion



G. H. SNIDER Dec. 19, 1967 HAIR DRYER BONNET COMPRISING AN INFLATABLE ANNULAR AIR CUSHION 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed May ll, 1966 G. H. SNIDER Dern 19, 1967 HAIR DRYER BONNET COMPRISING AN INFLATABLE ANNULAR AIR CUSHION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 1l, 1966 INVENTOR.

United States Patent O 3,358,383 HAIR DRYER BGNNET COMPRISING AN INFLAT- ABLE ANNULAR AIR CUSHIQN Gerald H. Snider, Norwalk, Conn., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed May 11, 1956, Ser. No. 549,211 Claims. (Cl. 34-99) This invention relates to household hair dryers and, more particularly, to an improved llexi-ble hair dryer bonnet for such a hair dryer.

Household hair dryers usually comprise mechanism for providing a iiow of suitably heated air and a cap or bonnet for distributing the heated air through the hair to be dried. Their use and acceptance, to a large extent, depend considerably on the comfortableness of the bonnet and its electiveness in drying hair. A hair dryer bonnet which in use is comfortable and distributes the heated air so as to uniformly and quickly dry all of the hair of a user is especially desirable.

It is a common complaint of most users of known household hair dryers employing hair dryer bonnets that the bonnets are uncomfortable, particularly, in the Vicinity of the back of the neck of the user, because of the tendency of the usual heated air conducting tube to droop where it is connected to the bonnet and apply a force against the head of the user in the vicinity of the back of the neck.

It has been ascertained in practice that the eiliciency with which hair is dried depends largely on the ability of the bonnet to assume and remain in a predetermined substantially inflated condition wherein its heated air distributing means is spaced from the head of the user to a maximum degree, thereby insuring proper internal air flow of the heated air.

Therefore, it is a principal object of this invention to provide an improved hair dryer bonnet which in use iS comfortable aud uniformly and quickly dries the hair of a user.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a liexible hair dryer bonnet comprising a exible inner wall member surrounded by a flexible outer wall member. The wall members are connected to each other at spaced locations to form a plurality of air distributing channels. A plurality of air discharge openings are formed in the inner wall member for directing heated air toward the hair to be dried. Means is provided for holding the bottom portion of the bonnet into close contact with the head of the user below the hair line. An air inlet opening is located in the outer wall member for permitting heated air to fill the air distributing channels and a heated air tube coupling member is secured about the opening. An annular chamber that communicates with the air inlet opening is formed adjacent the bottom portion of the bonnet which is inflatable in use to provide an annular air cushion that performs the dual functions of spacing the remainder of the hair bonnet away from the head of the user to insure proper orientation of the airdistributing channels and air discharge openings relative to the hair, and to space the heated air tube and its coupling member away from the head and neck of the user.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front and side perspective view of my improved hair dryer bonnet mounted on the head of a user;

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective View of the hair dryer bonnet as shown in FIG. 1, with portions broken away at the real thereof in the vicinity of where the heated air tube is connected to the bonnet to illustrate the flow of heated air after initially entering the bonnet;

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross sectional view of the hair dryer bonnet mounted on the head of a user, drawn 0n a larger scale than that of FIGS. l or 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary schematic view taken substantially on line 4-4 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view of the hair dryer bonnet looking at the inside toward the rear thereof with the means of the hair dryer 4bonnet for normally maintaining it in a dome-like condition loosened and the bonnet wall members shown in a attened planar condition;

FIG. 6 is a sectional View taken substantially on line 6 6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but showing the inside forward portion of the bonnet, and

FIG. 8 is a sectional View taken substantially on line 8-8 of FIG. 7.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of my improved hair dryer bonnet 10 in operative dome-like condition mounted on the head H of a user. The bonnet is pleated, gathered and secured by an elastic means to form a restricted opening at its top portion 12 to provide an overall generally conical appearance. The bonnet has adjustable means at its -bottom portion I4 for selectively securing the bonnet to the head of a user, and includes a tube coupling member 16 at the rear thereof spaced upwardly from said bottom portion and arranged selectively to have detachably secured to it a heated air tube 18.

With reference to FIG. 3, it will be observed that the bonnet 10 when in an operative condition includes a generally cylindrical tapered inner Wall member 20 disposed within a generally cylindrical tapered outer wall member 22, to form a dome-like hood. The wall members 20 and 22 may be conveniently made of sheets of vinyl plastic or other suitable material. At the top portion 12 of the bonnet, the wall members 20, 22 are secured to each other, as by a completely annular heat seal seam 24 (see FIGS. 5 8). Elastic ribbon 26 is secured to the inner side of inner wall member 20 above the seam 24, as yby being stitched thereto, after the material has been pleated and gathered. The top edge of the outer wall member 22 extends beyond the top edge of the inner wall member 20 and both are pleated and gathered prior to securement of the elastic ribbon 26 so as to provide a restricted opening which functions as an air outlet for the bonnet, as Well as an access means to permit the hand of the user to be inserted within the bounet during usage for various purposes.

At the bottom portion 14, the inner and outer wall members 2G, 22 have coterminous bottom edges which are secured to each other, as by an annular heat seal seam 28. A second heat seal seam 34, which -is spaced from and generally parallel to seam 28, is formed to join the wall members. An elastic band 3@ is secured at the inner side of the yinner wall member 20 to and over approximately the forward half of the bottom portions of the inner and outer wall members after the secured material has been gathered; therefore, half of the -bottom portion is expansi-ble. A pair of grommets 32 are formed at the sides of the bottom portion of the bonnet and secured in the outer wall member 22 to communicate with the channel space between the wall members and seams 28 and 34. A pair of draw strings 36 are disposed in the channel space, and each has one of its ends 38 secured to an end of elastic band 30, as by stitching, and its other end 40 extended through a grommet 32 to the exterior of the bonnet where it is accessible for being pulled by the hands of the user around the forward side `of the bottom portion of the bonnet and tied into a bow 42 to suit the needs and comforts of the user, as shown in FIG. l.

It will therefore, be seen that with the hair bonnet construction described thus far, an arrangement -has been parent that a of the sheet material of which the generally provided whereby the bonnet may be formed into a exible dome-like hood and secured to the head of the user. Means is provided to permit the user to selectively adjustably mount the bonnet. The bonnet comprises a pair of spaced flexible wall members that are securedV at their top and bottom portions in the described manner to provide av space between the wall members through which heated air may pass. The heat seal seams 24 and 34 are continuous and, therefore, a completely sealed space is provided. The top portion of the bonnet includes a, restricted air outlet and access opening. Y

In addition to the foregoing, means are provided for admitting heated air from a source into the space between theY wall members of the bonnet; distributing it throughout the space; and directing it out of the space and through the hair. As previously mentioned, heated air tube 18 may be detachably connected to the coupling member y16 of the bonnet. Coupling member 16 is secured to outer wall member 22 at the bottom rear thereof and extends through an opening therein. The member 16 may be secured in any convenient manner, as by being stitched to a stiii'ener plate 75l of plastic material that is heat sealed to wall member 22.

As is well known in this art, heated air may be produced in a variety of ways; the particular manner of generating the heated air forms no specific part of my invention. Therefore, no illustration or specific description of the heated air generating means will be made herein other than generally to disclose that some source of heated air under the selective control of the user is employed to furnish a iiow of heated air to the tube 18 in the direction of the schematic arrows shown in FIGS. l to 3. As illustrated, the heated air tube 1S is of the flexible varietyl and includes a rigid coupling member 44 that is permanently secured to the flexible portion of the tube and detachably secured to thA bonnet coupling member 16 1u any convenient manner, as by the frictional snap, rib and groove arrangement illustrated. It will, therefore, be aptlow of heated air may be directed through the air inlet formed by coupling member 1,6 to` the space between the bonnet wall members at the lower, rear portion thereof.

A unique feature of this invention is the manner in which the bonnet is constructed to form pathways to direct the heated air to two different zones for two different important purposes.

The rst purpose is to provide a circulating flow of heated air for uniformly and quickly drying the hair of a user. The controlled ow of this portion of heated air results from the mannerin which a plurality of air distributing channels are formed in the air space in the bonnet. With reference to FIGS. 4-8, it willV be observed that the bonnet wall members 20, 22 have been joined to each other, as by heat seals, welds or the like seams 46 which are generally vertically oriented relative to the bonnet, as illustrated in FIGS. and 7. Scams 46 extend from upper heat seal 24 downwardly toward lower heat seals 34, 2,8, but short thereof, and terminate in enlarged beads 48. At the front of the bonnet, the vertically contiguous edges inner and outer wall members are formed are joined together, as by a complete heat seal seam 5G (see FIGS. 3 and 7). The seam 50 is formed during manufacture of the bonnet to cause the originally flat sheet Wall member material to :be joined in a continuous cylinder, and this may be conveniently done after all of the various seams are formed and before the top and bottom portions have their elastic ribbon and band and drawstrings attached to them. At the rear of the bonnet a vertical seam 52 is formed which terminates in enlarged bead 54. It will be observed from FIG. 5 that the seam 52 is shorterrthan thevseams v46 and is aligned with the tube coupling-member 176. The construction of the bonnet wall members described thusy far provides a plu- Vrality `of generally vertically extendin-g airdistributing Vchannels 56, as can best be seen in FIG. 4, which is a schematic view illustrating the bonnet during usage when it has been mounted on the head H and inflated. A plurality of small air holes `60 are provided in and throughout the inner wall member 26 for directing jets of heated air against the hair of the user for uniform circulation and penetration of drying air therethrough. With reference to FIGS. 3 and air enters through the tube 1S, passes through the coupling formed by members 44, 16 and into the space between the bonnet wall members 20, 22 at the lower portion thereof. A major part of the entering air is then directed upwardly between the wall members and into the air-distributing channels 56, and out through the small air openings 60, where it contacts the hair and dries the same. The air then exits out of the restricted opening formed at the top portion 12 of the bonnet. Although FIGS. Srand 6 are not views illustrating the operational condition of the bonnet, for the purposes of understanding the iiow of air between the wall members 22, 24, schematic arrows are illustrated in these views for air passing through the tube coupling member 16 and directed in a number of directions circumferentially and upwardly of the bonnet into the air-distributing channels 56.

The second purpose of directing incoming air to different zones is to inflate a spacing means at the bottom of the bonnet. The heated air which enters the space between the bonnet wall members has a part diverted circumferentially into an annular chamber formed between the heat seal seam 34 and a heat seal seam 62 which is generally parallel to the lower edge of and joins the bonnet wall members, and is continuous except for a short space which straddles the tube coupling member 16 (see FIG. 5). T he space in the seam 62 is formed between the enlarged beaded ends 64 of the heat seal seam, which are spaced equidistant from the tube coupling member 16. The heat seal seams 34 and 62 which connect the bonnet wall members 2t), 22, thereby form a substantially annular static pressurized air chamber 66 which is opened only in the vicinity of the air inlet formed by the tube coupling member 16.

On entry of heated air into the space between the bonnet wall members, it passes through the tube coupling member 16, and some of the heated air is diverted into the static air chamber 66, as illustrated schematically in FIG. 5 by the lowermost arrows which are directed downwardly and horizontally with reference to this figure. When in use, the static air chamber 66 is maintained in its inated condition with its outer diameter substantially larger than the head of the user, as illustrated in FIG. 3, under pressure of the incoming heated air, most of which after initial ination of the static air chamber, is directed upwardly and circumferentially into the air-distributing channels 56 and, thereafter, through the small air holes 6,0 adjacent the users head, where it dries the hair and then it passes out through the outlet opening formed at the top portion of the bonnet. Y

As can best be seen in FIG. 3, when the bonnet is in use, the static air chamber 66 forms an annular resilient support structure of significant strength which performs the dual functions of spacing the bonnet upwardly away from the head of the user in position whereby heated air passing through the channels 56 may inate the channels and cause only limited contact between the head H of the user and the bonnet inner wall member 20. The static air chamber `66 also provides a structural support for the tube coupling member 16 and its connected tube 18 and its coupling member 44, which spaces these members and the tube away from the neck and head of the user, whereby the tube does not droop and cause dis- 70 comiiture and thereby eliminating one of the important deficiencies of prior art hair dryer bonnets. The stilfener plate 70 aids in supporting the tube and coupling members. It has been found in practice, by actual test, that users of my improved hair bonnet are unanimous in their agreement that the heretofore existing problems of dis- 4, it will be observed that heated comfort resulting from the air tube and its coupling members drooping against the head and neck area of the user has been totally eliminated.

This foregoing desirable overall operation and air r'iow is clearly illustrated vin FIG. 2, wherein the schematic arrows representing the heated air entering the space between the bonnet wall members is illustrated as being deected into two general directions, namely, one into the static air chamber 66, and the other up into the airdistributing channels 56.

It will, therefore, be observed that I have provided an improved hair dryer bonnet which is novel, useful, and eliminates one of the ybasic deficiencies of prior art hair dryer bonnets. While there has been shown and described one embodiment of my invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the invention and, therefore, the invention as defined by the appended claims should be construed to cover all changes and modifications as reasonably fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to Patent of the United States is:

1. A hair dryer bonnet comprising: a flexible outer wall; a flexible inner wall; a -plurality of seams securing said walls to each other at a plurality of spaced locations to form a generally cylindrical double-walled bonnet structure having a plurality of internal communicating air distributing channels formed between the walls; and an annular pressurized static air chamber formed around and adjacent the bottom portion of the bonnet between said walls; means for holding the bottom portion of the bonnet in close contact with the head of the user below the hair line; air inlet means formed in said outer wall adapted to have an air tube connected to it for admitting heated air between said walls into said channels and said static air chamber; means defining a plurality of spaced air discharge openings in said inner wall for permitting the heated air to exit from said channels and be uniformly distributed throughout the hair; said static air chamber being substantially larger in its outer diameter than the head of the user and located adjacent said holding means whereby it spaces the air distributing channel forming portions of said bonnet upwardly away from the hair of the user; and said air inlet means being spaced from the bottom edge of said bonnet and communicating with said static air chamber whereby said static air chamber is inated and maintained under pressure in use and thereby supports said air inlet means and its connected air tube away from the head of the user.

secure by Letters 2. The hair dryer bonnet defined in claim 1 wherein a stiffener plate is disposed in said static air chamber adjacent said outer wall and extends between Said air inlet means and the bottom edge of said bonnet to further aid in supporting said air inlet means and its connected air tube.

3. The hair dryer bonnet defined in claim l wherein said Walls are formed of iiexible heat sealable sheet material members; and all of said seams are formed by heat seals that join said members.

s. The hair dryer bonnet defined in claim 1 wherein said air inlet means comprises a coupling member secured to said outer wall 'at the rear and near the bottom thereof which extends through a portion of said outer wall that defines said static air chamber.

S. The hair dryer bonnet defined in claim 1 wherein said holding means comprises an elastic portion and a selectively operated drawstring portion.

6. The hair dryer bonnet defined in claim 1 wherein said walls converge at their top portions and are secured by an eiastic ribbon to provide a restricted bonnet opening for discharging air from within the bonnet that has exited out of said air discharge openings in said inner wall and been distributed throughout the users hair and permitting access of the users fingers during operation.

7. The hair dryer bonnet defined in claim 6 wherein said holding means comprises an elastic portion and a selectively operated drawstring portion.

8. The hair dryer defined in claim 7 wherein said walls are formed of exible heat sealable sheet material members; and all of said seams are formed by heat seals that join said members.

9. The hair dryer defined in claim 8 wherein said air inlet means comprises a coupling member secured to said outer wall at the rear and near the bottom thereof which extends through a portion of said outer wall that defines said static air chamber.

10. The hair dryer bonnet defined in claim 9 wherein said coupling member is secured to a stifener plate which, in turn, is heat sealed to said outer wall.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,113,848 l2/l963 Clark 34-99 3,281,955 1l/1966 Clark 34-99 FREDERICK L. MATTESON, JR., Primary Examiner. A. D. HERMANN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A HAIR DRYER BONNET COMPRISING: A FLEXIBLE OUTER WALL; A FLEXIBLE INNER WALL; A PLURALITY OF SEAMS SECURING SAID WALLS TO EACH OTHER AT A PLURALITY OF SPACED LOCATIONS TO FORM A GENERALLY CYLINDRICAL DOUBLE-WALLED BONNET STRUCTURE HAVING A PLURALITY OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATING AIR DISTRIBUTING CHANNELS FORMED BETWEEN THE WALLS; AND AN ANNULAR PRESSURIZED STATIC AIR CHAMBER FORMED AROUND AND ADJACENT THE BOTTOM PORTION OF THE BONNET BETWEEN SAID WALLS; MEANS FOR HOLDING THE BOTTOM PORTION OF THE BONNET IN CLOSE CONTACT WITH THE HEAD OF THE USER BELOW THE HAIR LINE; AIR INLET MEANS FORMED IN SAID OUTER WALL ADAPTED TO HAVE AN AIR TUBE CONNECTED TO IT FOR ADMITTING HEATED AIR BETWEEN SAID WALLS INTO SAID CHANNELS AND SAID STATIC AIR CHAMBER; MEANS DEFINING A PLURALITY OF SPACED AIR DISCHARGE OPENINGS IN SAID INNER WALL FOR PERMITTING THE HEATED AIR TO EXIT FROM SAID CHANNELS AND BE UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT THE HAIR; SAID STATIC AIR CHAMBER BEING SUBSTANTIALLY LARGER IN ITS OUTER DIAMETER THAN THE HEAD OF THE USER AND LOCATED ADJACENT SAID HOLDING MEANS WHEREBY IT SPACES THE AIR DISTRIBUTING CHANNEL FORMING PORTIONS OF SAID BONNET UPWARDLY AWAY FROM THE HAIR OF THE USER; AND SAID AIR INLET MEANS BEING SPACED FROM THE BOTTOM EDGE OF SAID BONNET AND COMMUNICATING WITH SAID STATIC AIR CHAMBER WHEREBY SAID STATIC AIR CHAMBER IS INFLATED AND MAINTAINED UNDER PRESSURE IN USE AND THEREBY SUPPORTS SAID AIR INLET MEANS AND ITS CONNECTED AIR TUBE AWAY FROM THE HEAD OF THE USER. 